Rice women’s basketball continued on their winning waves, closing out their penultimate regular season game with little drama against FAU.
Rice women’s basketball has been forced to juggle its lineup several times in recent weeks, but the end result has routinely been the same: winning. The Owls were without Trinity Gooden or Destiny Jackson on Thursday night against FAU but it never seemed to matter. The return of Malia Fisher helped smooth those concerns as well as a big day from Katelyn Crosthwait.
Crosthwait got the scoring started with a first quarter jumper, two of her 22 points on the afternoon. That helped spark and early Rice run which put them in front for good, never trailing in the eventual runaway victory.
Florida Atlantic would keep things within striking distance for a while, but Rice pulled away for good with a strong start to the fourth quarter, emphasized by a flurry of threes that turned a 14-point Rice lead into a 21-point advantage. It proved too much for FAU to overcome as Rice hung on to secure the win.
Final Box | Rice 76 – FAU 61
FINAL | @RiceWBB 76 – FAU 61 pic.twitter.com/plJ0JMX61o
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) March 3, 2023
Key takeaway | Moving on up
By virtue of Western Kentucky’s win over UTEP and the Owls’ victory over the Florida-based Owls, Rice moves into the No. 3 overall seed in the Conference USA Tournament with the head-to-head tiebreaker over UTSA. Rice can secure that seeding by defeating FIU on Saturday.
Rice is a game behind Western Kentucky in the standings and doesn’t look to have a chance to pass them on the final weekend. Still, the Owls would be looking at a top-three regular season finish if things hold. That’s a solid result for a program picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.
Regardless, Rice will finish above Charlotte and Louisiana Tech, two of the three programs picked to finish above them in October. That’s why you play the games.
Up Next: at FIU – Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1:00 p.m.
